My Place Mondays - No. 1

What's this all about ?

Over the next couple of months I would like to let you into my home to see what I'm up to on the decluttering front. (Through this blogpost) It'll be a warts and all version - stuff I'm enjoying, things that are annoying, what's working and what's not!

This is not in any way to show off but more to open up the reality of decluttering and organising in a busy household. Many people I chat to have some notion that I live constantly in a super tidy oasis with nothing out of place. Well, I invite you to come with me and find out what it's really like. “My place Mondays” will be a little weekly round up of action or otherwise! Apologies in advance for the quality of some of the photos. They're all taken with my phone which I'm still learning how to drive effectively!

My Place Monday - No. 1 Last week in September

This last week at my place has been mainly about recovering from our recent week away. We returned with the usual mountain of washing to load up. Considering we didn’t actually take that much away with us I am ALWAYS surprised how much of it there is. I don’t like to use the tumble dryer, except on a very rare occasion, so what this means in reality is I spend a lot of time moaning and mumbling to myself about how the place is now taken over by clothes ! It took a few days to get all our travel bits and pieces re-homed and I’m glad to say we’re now back to normal service.

One area I’ve really enjoyed this week is my wee office - a rather grand name for my camping table in the spare room! Despite having the airer and all its contents bashing up against me for quite a number of days I have found it a really galvanising space. I’ve recently written a blog on “Working from home” and I think the research and extra thinking I put into that has rubbed a little sparkle onto me.

I’m alternating between “electro swing” and “white noise” for my background music of choice. If you haven’t tried out a “white noise” app before (For focus, creativity or sleep) then do give one a go. I’m currently listening to the lapping of waves from “Noisli” ! It definitely changes the atmosphere of the place!

I am a tad annoyed at seeing headphones and chargers still lying about the place. Even more so when I hear someone whining “I can’t find any headphones!” AGAIN. We have very definite “homes” for these, that up until now have been mostly used. Why the change? Possibly, down to the teenagers’ increasing inability to walk more than a few paces to put something away!

Anyway, I’ve added in an extra “electronics” box upstairs on the landing bookshelf for phones, cables etc. So far, it’s not seen much action but I’m going to keep the pressure up on this one and see if we can get on top of it.

Ah – the utility room. Now this has long been a bit of a dumping ground. In some ways it works if we can tolerate some build up here. It’s not that bad but it’s getting near the tipping point! I’ve now moved it to the top of my list for having a more thorough sort & clean out next week.

With the recent drop in temperatures we had to fish out the hats and gloves earlier in the week. I’m sure when I left the glove box last year it was all pairs. Not anymore. So, this prompted a quick sort out. I’ve moved on a couple of singles (To the rag bag), re-homed the ski gloves, paired up the rest and realised I need some new thin liners if I’m going to make it through the “predicted” coldest winter in 10 years. (Let’s hope they’ve got it wrong!).

The kids (14 & 12), in fairness, this week have contributed quite well to the flow of the home. Of course, we still had the regular towels left on the bathroom floor, unchanged empty toilet rolls and 1 sizzling incident with the iron (Required learning I suppose!)

Embarrassingly, I’ve still got a section of my purse full of Croatian Kuna coins ! So I’m going to get them out right NOW before I forget again. All the major charities take odd bits of coins so I’ll put them in my donations box. Right that’s done and so am I for this week.

I hope you’ve enjoyed having a little glimpse behind the scenes. As you can see I don’t have it all sussed out. To suit our outdoorsy, active family, I’m aiming for a comfortable level of organisation that works for us most of the time. I’d love to hear what your overall goal for your space is. Do comment below or on Facebook.

Back next Monday with another round up.

Jodi x